In the never ending search for cool miniatures it's time to head away from the usual and try a company you would have seen around for a while but maybe haven't dived into yet - Ramshackle Games.Ramshackle make a really diverse and interesting bunch of stuff, from fantasy Orcs to post-apocalyptic bikers and soldiers to a bloody cool chess set.

Even looking through their site today I saw this really cool Goblin War Giant - WANT!Recently you may have seen their Kickstarter for their Brothers of Iron line - and that's what I'm looking at today in our review.I really like the designs for the Brothers of Iron so was eager to get my hands on them...

The Brothers of Iron I ordered are an interesting modular idea - the same body and weapon but alternate heads... and interesting heads they are too!(Use the link above as the webstore is really hard to get around)

I went with the Iron Brothers for their Steampunk-esque look, as much as the others give all kinds of gamers a real option for the army they want to build or even for an elite unit within that force.

I will say at the outset that these minis have a particular look and feel that has a real hand sculpted look which will be interesting to paint.You can see from these shots the hand crafted nature of the sculpting... and unfortunately something I'll build on later - the holes in the resin and not the only ones!

There are a number of different poses in the set, mostly with their arms attached. Pretty simple design with that handmade feel.

Unfortunately some of the handmade feel is a bit messy to be honest. I'm sure once it's together it's ok, but you have to admit a touch rough.

There are 3 main sprues; heads, guns/ hands and the bodies (technically not a sprue, thanks for noticing...). As you can see, there is a lot of flash which is pretty straight forward to clean off, so no real issue. You can again see in the close up shot a hole or two in the surface of some of the bits.The arms do fit very nicely to the bodies once trimmed and the hands do look very natural.The compact design of these weapons is really nice too and reminds me a bit of the very early Bolters from Games Workshop while still retaining it's own look.

The back of each miniature is particularly detailed while still having that handmade feel to it. I really like the backs of these minis and the poses are all great - from the very erect 'at attention' to the dynamic movement of the action poses!

Now lets have a look at some of the rougher sides of the moulding - and there are rougher parts.

You can see the handmade nature of the surfaces on these two arms - the only two in the set.

There is some cleaning up on some bits and it's not always clear where the sprue ends and the bit starts.

Trimming the parts is very necessary and the nature of the resin is not one I've seen before. It's very firm and somewhat porous actually. Speaking of porous...

Holes - a fair few. Sure, not as bad as Citadel Finecast, but they're there!

Check out the amount of flash on the bases! Yes there's a bit and I also found the bases weren't always flat! The sculpting on the minis is very nice though.

So here he is - all done up! The pose, though simple is dynamic & interesting. Can't wait to get paint on this guy!

Verdict

These are really nice little minis - but don't expect Forge World or Infinity because of you do you will be disappointed.BUT if you like the look of them and can see them in your universe I wouldn't hesitate to get some.There are a lot of others minis that look great - and to go with their Brothers of Iron range... is a sweet looking armoured car!

Bubbles! I am always willing to replace any parts not up to standard. I also always send out more parts so its usually possible to simply use the best casts. Also these figures are very cheap, at 80pence each they are amongst the cheapest figures on the market.

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In a time before 40k, there was a band of men and women who took part in gaming without the corporate sensibilities of today. Take a step back with us and also look upon the future through wizened eyes and curious ponderings of The Beardy Hammer!